After sending out a series of tweets about climate science on Tuesday, the Badlands National Park Twitter account was forced to delete its postings in the midst of a crackdown by the Trump administration on the scientific community.
Luckily, Twitter users captured the tweets before they were taken down:
All the @BadlandsNPS climate tweets have been taken down, so here’s a screenshot #factsmatter #sciencematters pic.twitter.com/qUuWzUMfC0
— Anna Nowogrodzki (@AnnaNowo) January 24, 2017
Democrats were quick to pounce on this in a statement, saying “Vladimir Putin would be proud” of the Trump administration’s Orwellian crackdown on the fact-based community.
Tweet:
That was fast— DNC out with statement on the deletion of the Badlands tweets: “Vladimir Putin would be proud.” pic.twitter.com/xx0PdNd7gp
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 24, 2017
The posts were deleted the same day it was revealed that the Trump administration banned the Environmental Protection Agency from talking to the press or posting updates on social media outlets. Trump also restricted the EPA from giving out any new grants or contracts.
It was also discovered Tuesday that the Department of Agriculture would no longer be able to share its scientific research with the public.
“Starting immediately and until further notice, [the Agricultural Research Service] will not release any public-facing documents,” ARS Chief of Staff Sharon Drumm wrote in an email to the department, according to Buzzfeed. “This includes, but is not limited to, news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds, and social media content.”
These developments come just days after the National Parks Service retweeted an image of President Trump’s small inaugural crowd, prompting a quick response from the new administration to restrict the service’s use of social media.
There is no word yet on whether Donald Trump – who often uses his Twitter account to spew baseless conspiracy theories and throw childish temper tantrums – will ever face any type of restriction on his irresponsible use of social media.
In any case, the next four years will be a difficult time for the scientific community – and any Americans who care about the well-being of the planet.
